Facebook Messenger might soon let you hail a cab with Uber

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Imagine you need a cab and decide to use Uber, but instead of opening the Uber app, you open Facebook Messenger. It certainly would be a strange way to get the job done, though it's something seriously under consideration at both Facebook and Uber, it's claimed.

According to tech website Recode, Facebook wants to integrate Uber into its Messenger app. Uber is also a mobile app, but it connects passengers with screened drivers of vehicles for hire. You don't have to make a reservation or wait in a taxi line to use Uber; just compare rates for different verified vehicles and services through Uber, then add a credit card to your account, and set your pick-up location on a map. You can even check the progress of your car and the route a driver took.

Adding Uber could help Facebook turn its mobile messaging client into an e-commerce platform. The company would be able to build up its database of customer payment information and subsequently lay the foundation for a future products based on e-commerce or money transfer. After all, Facebook said it is testing ways to get customers to buy products through posts or adverts. Also, keep in mind Facebook just hired PayPal’s David Marcus in order to start monitising Messenger.

Uber on the other hand would also be able to benefit from an integration with Messenger. It be able to tap into Facebook's audience, for instance, and possibly add millions of new customers. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, announced last spring that Facebook had 200 million users. That said, according to Recode's unnamed sources, talks between Facebook and Uber are still "conceptual" and not at all firm at this point.

Pocket-lint has contacted both Facebook and Uber for a comment. We will update when or if we learn more.